Christianity  and  Industry:  Three 


FELLOWSHIP 

A  MEANS  OF  BUILDING 
THE  CHRISTIAN  SOCIAL  ORDER 

BY 

BASIL  MATHEWS 

AND 

HARRY  BISSEKER 


WITH  A  PREFACE  BY 

SHERWOOD  EDDY; 


NEW  xar  YORK 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


Ten  Cents  Net. 


COPYEIGHT,  1921, 

BY  GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT, 

1920,  BY  EDWIN  S.  GORPIAM 

199 

PRINTED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 


PREFACE 


The  peoples  of  the  earth  are  in  confusion.  In  the  presence  of - 
complex  and  dangerous  problems,  they  stand  perplexed  and  hesi¬ 
tating.  They  need  light.  The  disastrous  consequences  of  a  war 
waged  in  the  spirit  of  high  idealism  have  left  many  with  a 
cynical  attitude  toward  all  ideals.  They  need  vision.  In  the 
present  hour  men  and  women  of  high  ideals  are  tempted  to  be 
unduly  timid  and  cautious  about  proclaiming  their  message.  The 
forces  of  reaction  are  in  the  ascendancy.  Slander  and  persecu¬ 
tion  await  those  who  run  counter  to  accepted  traditions.  Courage 
is  needed. 

Confronted  with  complex  problems,  cynical  indifference  and 
the  attacks  of  reactionaries,  many  men  and  women  of  high 
purpose  are  ^lonely  and  discouraged.  Some  feel  that  they  alone 
of  all  the  multitude  have  not  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal.  They 
need  inspiration  and  companionship.  In  this  hour  many  are  filled 
with  a  sense  of  impotence.  They  need  cooperation  from  those  of 
like  mind  and  purpose. 

Light!  Vision!  Courage!  Companionship!  Cooperation! 
These  are  sorely  needed. 

The  book  from  which  the  following  extracts  are  taken  represents 
the  beginning  of  a  literature  in  Great  Britain  born  of  a  new 
experience.  A  number  of  “Fellowships”  have  been  formed  in 
England  which  have  rediscovered  some  of  the  hidden  springs  of 
life  and  power  of  early  Christianity.  Mr.  C.  A.  A.  Scott  in  his 
chapter  on  “What  Happened  at  Pentecost,”  in  that  most  helpful 
volume  on  “The  Spirit”  edited  by  Canon  Streeter,  maintains  that 
the  new  thing  which  took  place  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  was  the 
emergence  of  fellowship.  A  new  type  of  life  had  appeared  in  the 
world.  ’  It  was  the  life  of  God  in  the  hearts  of  a  community 
of  men  in  fellowship  with  the  Living  Christ.  This  fellowship  on 
the  divine  side  was  the  organ  of  the  Spirit,  an  extension  of  the 
Incarnation,  the  “body  of  Christ”  on  earth,  the  social  organism 
for  the  expression  of  the  very  life  and  being  of  God  in  human 
personalities.  On  the  human  side  the  fellowship  was  the  organ 
of  spiritual  insight.  Together,  of  one  heart  and  soul,  under  a 

common  leadership,  they  realized  a  common  mind,  and  growingly 

•  •  • 
lU 


IV 


PREFACE 


apprehended  the  will  of  God.  Together  in  a  deepening  fellow¬ 
ship  with  God  and  m-an  they  shared  a  common  life  and  went  out 
to  conquer  a  world  with  an  enlarging  experience  of  love  that 
multiplied  as  it  was  shared. 

It  is  this  experience  of  a  spiritual  fellowship,  the  very  life 
of  God  shared  with  a  group  of  men  and  women  in  harmony  with 
His  purpose,  that  is  a  supreme  need  of  our  time,  and  especially 
in  our  own  country.  The  American  is  so  motor-minded,  rushes  so 
instantly  into  action  and  organization  that  he  does  not  take  suf¬ 
ficient  time  for  deliberation.  It  is  to  such  an  enlarging  experience 
of  fellowship  in  thought  and  prayer  that  this  book  calls  us. 

Recently  a  group  •  of  persons  from  ten  states  gathered 
together  in  New  York  City.  After  two  days  of  prayer  and  dis¬ 
cussion,  there  was  general  agreement  that  a  Fellowship  for  a 
Christian  Social  Order  had  spontaneously  come  into  being.  These 
persons  are  now  endeavoring  to  gather  together  informal  Fellow¬ 
ship  groups  in  various  centers  throughout  the  United  States. 
Persons  who  are  interested  may  secure  further  information  con¬ 
cerning  this  movement  by  communicating  with  its  secretary,  Mr; 
Kirby  Page,  311  Division  Avenue,  Hasbrouck  Heights,  New 
Jersey. 

Information  concerning  The  Fellowship  of  Reconciliation,  com¬ 
posed  of  men  and  women  who  seek  to  apply  the  principles  and 
spirit  of  Jesus  in  all  relationships  of  life,  and  who  hold  an  un¬ 
compromising  attitude  toward  sanctioning  or  participating  in  war, 
may  be  secured  from  Bishop  Paul  Jones,  108  Lexington  Avenue, 
New  York  City. 

We  are  deeply  indebted  to  the  authors  and  publisher  of  the  book 
Felloivship  in  Thought  and  Prayer  for  permission  to  print  these 
extracts  for  wider  circulation. 


Sherwood  Eddy. 

December  15,  1921. 

Slf-l  Madison  Avenue, 

New  Yorh  City. 


NOTE 


This  pamphlet  is  a  series  of  excerpts  from  the  book 
Fellowship  in  Thought  and  Prayer  by  Basil  Mathews 
and  Harry  Bisseker  (copyright,  1920,  by  Edwin  S. 
Gorham) — 111  pages.  Copies  may  be  secured  at  the 
rate  of  $1  each  from  the  publishers,  Edwin  S.  Gorham, 
11  West  45th  Street,  New  York  City. 

We  are  deeply  indebted  to  the  authors  and  to  the 
publisher  for  permission  to  print  these  excerpts  for 
wider  circulation. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

I:  The  Meaning  of  Fellowship 
II:  Fellowship  in  Thought  and  Prayer 
III:  Fellowship  IN  Action  .  .  .  r. 


I:  THE  MEANING  OF 
FELLOWSHIP 


“The  lack  of  Fellowship  is  hell.” 

— William  Morris. 


I 


Fellowship,  like  all  elemental  things,  defies  definition.  Its  subtle 
and  powerful  essence  escapes  through  the  closest  mesh  of  words. 
Those  who  have  in  any  full  sense  shared  intimate  fellowship 
will  feel  a  disappointing  inadequacy  at  any  attempt  to  express 
its  reality.  The  power  of  fellowship  in  life,  its  transforming 
influence  in  personality,  and  its  revolutionary  moral  power  can 
never  be  conveyed  by  any  form  of  words  to  those  who  have  not 
shared  it. 

I 

At  root,  fellowship  is  a  living  intercourse  between  personalities. 
It  is  such  an  intercourse  charged  through  and  through  with  both 
freedom  and  love,  and  kept  active  by  a  common  aim.  Love  is  at 
once  the  tether  of  the  comradeship  and  the  stimulus  of  its  corporate 
life  in  pursuit  of  the  quest.  Freedom  is  the  “wind  on  the  heath” 
of  fellowship,  keeping  the  affection  of  the  Found  Table  from  be¬ 
coming  stale  or  stagnant  or  oppressive. 

Fellowship,  then,  is  an  active  comradeship  between  personalities, 
men  or  women  or  both,  who  unite  with  one  another  in  a  common 
worship,  or  battle  for  a  common  quest,  or  play  their  game  for  the 
honour  of  a  team,  or  pool  their  separate  thoughts  in  constructing 
and  carrying  into  effect  a  single  plan,  or  who  simply  share  the 
needs  and  desires  of  a  common  humanity.  “These  are  the  ties 
which,  though  light  as  air,  are  as  strong  as  links  of  iron.” 

Fellowship,  in  short,  is  all  that  divine  and  human  commerce 
between  souls  which  makes  a  number  of  separate  men  into  a 
living  group.  In  fellowship  they  pull  together  like  a  team  tugging 
the  wagon  of  life  forward.  They  move  together  like  a  boat’s 
crew  swinging  as  one  man  in  a  disciplined  unity  of  will  to  win 
their  race.  A  group  in  real  fellowship  has,  in  fact,  many  of  the 
qualities  of  a  personality.  Through  the  power  of  fellowship 

9 


10 


FELLOWSHIP 


separate  personalities  blend  in  a  society  of  friends  that  has  an 
identity,  a  characteristic  quality,  and  a  power  of  concerted  action 
that  increase  the  potentialities  of  each  individual. 

The  story  of  man  is  full  of  the  revolutions  in  human  conditions 
made  by  the  power  of  suoii  fellowship  exercised  in  groups  of  men. 
Such  groups  have  often  centred  in  the  attractive  and  compelling 
power  of  some  personality  dedicated  to  an  idea.  Yet  that  person¬ 
ality  itself  is  the  creation  as  often  as  it  is  the  creator  of  fellow¬ 
ship.  In  fact,  fellowship  rarely  takes  permanent  form  unless  the 
compelling  force  that  draws  the  men  together  is  greater  than 
any  human  personality.  The  cohesive  power  is  normally  exercised* 
by  loyalty  to  an  idea  or  co-operation  in  a  steadily  pursued  plan  or 
a  common  worship. 

Great  movements  in  the  world’s  history,  associated  as  they  are 
in  the  popular  conception  with  the  leadership  of  some  powerful 
personality,  can  generally  be  traced  in  origin  to  the  seed  plot  of 
some  group  of  men  whose  fellowship  im  thought  and  often  in 
prayer  has  itself  been  the  nursery  of  that  man’s  power  of  great 
leadershiiD.  John  Woolman  moving  in  his  circle  in  America,  and 
Wilberforce  with  his  friends  in  England,  debated  and  developed 
those  gernrinal  ideas  which  destroyed  on  the  battlefields  of  America 
and  in  the  Parliament  of  Britain  the  slavery  that  was  arraigned 
first  at  the  judgment  bar  of  the  Christian  conscience.  John  Henry 
Newman,  in  concert  with  the  flaming  souls  of  Hurrell  Froude 
and  the  others  of  their  group,  nursed  and  fanned  the  sparks  that 
blazed  out  in  the  Oxford  Movement.  Mazzini  and  his  comrades 
proclaimed  and  fought  for  the  twin  doctrines  of  nationality  and 
liberty  that  now  begin  to  govern  the  world.  The  Gottesfreunde 
similarly  prepared  the  mind  of  Teutonic  Europe  for  the  stormy 
message  of  Luther.  The  Holy  Club  meeting  in  Wesley’s  room  in 
Lincoln  College  toughened  the  fibre  and  speeded  and  strengthened 
the  indomitable  wills  that  transformed  England.  Francis  of 
Assisi  with  his  group  of  Poor  Brothers  gave  Europe  such  a  vision 
of  the  divine  light  on  earth  as  she  had  not  seen  before  nor  has 
witnessed  since.  And  above  all  stands  that  first  fellowship  which 
moved  through  the  villages  of  J udsea  and  by  the  cornfields  and  lake 
side  of  Galilee  and  then  went  out  to  “turn  the  world  upside  down.” 

These  examples  that  leap  to  the  memory  illustrate  the  irresistible 
power  of  fellowship  working  in  men  who  are  so  welded  to  one 
another  by  a  common  loyalty  to  a  great  idea  that  they  have  one 
will,  one  faith,  and  one  divine  ambition.  In  them  we  discover 
that  the  leader  is  essentially  the  voice  of  the  fellowship ;  we  realise 
the  truth  of  Bishop  Brent’s  declaration  that  “the  leader  is  simply 
the  foremost  companion.” 


THE  MEANING  OF  FELLOWSHIP 


11 


In  the  quickening'  atmosphere  of  such  confident  and  intimate 
fellowship,  where 

Thought  leaps  out  to  wed  with  thought 
Ere  thought  can  wed  itself  with  speech; 

and  where  men’s  separatist  rivalries  and  competing  ambitions  are 
annealed  and  weldqd  into  a  loyal  common  pursuit  of  a  single 
quest,  we  discover  the  principle  of  moral  co-operation  in  redeem¬ 
ing  the  world. 


II 

Nothing,  however,  is  more  fatal  to  fellowship  than  uniformity 
among  those  who  compos.e  it,  or  complete  agreement  in  their 
views. 

The  fallacy  that  a  group  is  best  when  it  consists  of  men  or 
women  of  one  type  of  mind  or  similarity  in  outlook  is  perilous. 
Uniformity  of  temperament  or  agreement  in  all  opinion  makes 
fellowship  anaemic  and  flaccid.  Fellowship  is  at  once  tested  and 
strengthened  by  the  pooling  of  divergent  views  and  coalescing 
of  varied  personalities.  The  brilliant  and  glorious  strength, 
the  rich,  full-blooded  vitality  of  the  flrst  Christian  fellowship 
lay  in  the  fact  that  the  team  of  the  twelve  included  such  person¬ 
alities  as  Andrew  the  gentle  but  persistent,  Peter  the  impetuous 
but  uncertain,  the  mystical  yet  aggressive  Sons  of  Thunder, 
Thomas  the  sceptical  logician  and  Matthew  the  dedicated  business 
man.  Indeed  one  cause  of  the  anaemia  and  dulness  that  paralyse 
much  of  our  modern  fellowship  lies  on  one  side  in  the  fact  that 
we  draw  in  the  cautious  Thomases  and  shrewd  Matthews,  but 
tend  to  freeze  out  the  other  types  by  questioning  the  good  taste 
of  the  volcanic  and  explosive  Peter  (coming  in  too  with  the  smell 
of  flsh  on  his  linen!)  and  by  agreeing  that  after  all  John,  amiable 
dreamer  as  he  is,  is  ‘fiiot  what  we  should  call  practical.” 

But  in  reality,  that  “inflnite  variety”  is  the  very  fountain  of 
power  in  fellowship  when  it  is  caught  up  into  the  vital  unity  of 
a  common  leader  and  a  single  quest.  And  that  diversity  in  unity 
finds  superb  power  and  immortal  validity  when  the  loyalty  is 
given  to  the  Son  of  God  and  the  single  quest  is  the  campaign  for 
His  world  kingdom.  It  is  then — and  only  then — that  the  horizon 
of  the  fellowship  is  ultimate  and  the  resources  of  its  power  are 
infinite.  The  supreme  fellowship  is  the  Christian  Fellowship. 

If  fellowship,  then,  is  rooted  in  intercourse  but  does  not  involve 
either  uniformity  of  type  or  identity  of  opinion,  what  normally  is 
the  basis  on  which  the  intercourse  proceeds?  As  a  rule  it  is 


12 


FELLOWSHIP 


rooted  and  grows  from  a  common  spiritual  experience  which  issues 
in  a  common  spiritual  experience  to  achieve  a  certain  aim.  To 
examine  the  fellowships  that  we  have  given  as  examples,  the  groups 
which  created  and  carried  through  the  Franciscan  Movement,  the 
Methodist  Eevival,  the  Oxford  Movement,  the  Anti-Slavery  Cam¬ 
paign,  and  the  Young  Italy  Campaigns,  is  to  discover  in  them  all 
those  qualities  of  a  common  spiritual  experience  and  quest.  In 
every  case  differences  are  many  and  divergence  of  view  is  pro¬ 
nounced;  but  unity  regulates  and  controls  the  differences. 

The  glory  of  the  gift  of  fellowship  lies  in  the  fact  that,  while 
action  is  based  on  the  discovered  and  experienced  unity,  thought 
becomes  fullest  and  most  fruitful -when  it  audaciously  explores  the 
territories  of  difference.  To  penetrate  without  flinching  through 
these  dreaded  places  of  divergence  has  proved  again  and  again,  as 
Livingstone  discovered  when  he  crossed  the  Great  Desert,  that  the 
land  which  men  had  always  declared  to  be  a  desert  turned  out  to  be 
a  whole  continent  “full  of  great  rivers  and  many  trees.”  In 
particular,  it  has  been  proved  most  richly  that  to  Christian  folk 
who  keep  their  hearts  quick  to  the  ultimate  fact  of  their  unity 
in  Christ  it  is  possible  to  explore  to  their  farthest  depths  those 
forests  of  difference  which  have  kept  men  apart,  and  to  discover 
that,  after  all,  the  solution  of  our  divergences  will  be  reached, 
not  by  surrendering  our  sacred  convictions,  but  by  discovering  a 
higher,  richer,  more  glorious  and  hitherto  unsuspected  synthesis. 
And  the  unifying  power  by  which  that  synthesis  is  reached  is 
always  personal  fellowship  in  a  real  experience  of  Christ. 


Ill 

The  strength  of  fellowship  reposes,  then,  on  the  fact  that  to  men 
of  limited  view  and  partial  capacity  immense  enrichment  at  once 
of  personal  power  and  of  corporate  action  comes  from  sharing 
their  thought  and  their  prayer  in  dedication  to  a  common  aim. 
But,  although  the  feebleness  and  relative  futility  of  individual 
men  are  thus  swallowed  up  in  the  larger  powers  of  corporate 
thought  and  action,  the  actual  desire  for  fellowship  is  not  a 
product  of  the  weakness  of  men;  it  is  rooted  in  the  very  being 
and  nature  of  God.  “God,”  as  Madame  Guyon  has  said,  “has  an 
infinite  desire  to  communicate  Himself.”  Indeed  the  very  heart  of 
the  supreme  Act  of  God  in  giving  Himself  in  Christ  was  His 
desire  to  reconcile  to  Himself  the  estranged  faces  of  men — in 
a  word.  His  aim  was  fellowship.  God  lives  in  fellowship,  for 
God  is  Love. 


THE  MEANING  OE  FELLOWSHIP 


13 


That  picture  gallery  of  the  nature  of  God — the  parables — is 
just  a  series  of  windows  into  the  heart  of  fellowship.  The  central 
idea  of  the  shepherd  in  leaving  the  ninety  and  nine  for  the 
one  is  to  complete  the  fellowship.  The  distinction  between  the  hire¬ 
ling  and  the  Good  Shepherd  is  that  the  former  cares  nothing  and 
the  latter  will  give  everything  for  the  fellowship.  The  climax  of 
the  story  of  the  prodigal  son  is  the  restoration  of  fellowship;  and 
the  damning  sin  of  the  otherwise  blameless  elder  brother  is  that 
he  refuses  to  join  in  it.  The  growth  of  the  Kingdom  is  like  leaven. 
The  final  seal  on  discipleship  is  that  the  men  have  climbed  from 
the  status  of  a  bondslave  to  the  standard  of  the  friend:  they  have 
entered  into  fellowship.  The  whole  story  of  the  Gospels,  indeed, 
is  the  record  of  the  training  of  a  fellowship  that  found  in  the 
Fatherhood  of  God  the  supreme  authority  for  the  source  of  the 
fellowship  of  His  sons. 

Our  definition  of  fellowship  as  living  intercourse,  however, 
involves  that  it  can  only  exist  where  there  is  reciprocity.  To 
give  to  men  is  not  to  have  fellowship  with  them.  Fellowship  of 
the  order  that  bridges  all  divisions  of  race  and  social  status  and 
sex  is  not  made  even  by  giving  the  most  heroic,  persistent  and 
philanthropic  service.  We  may  die  for  men  or  give  royally, 
yet  may  fail  to  create  the  one  thing  that  they  are  starving  for, 
if  we  do  not  give  ourselves  in  fellowship;  if  we  do  not  share  as 
well  as  give.  The  paradoxes  of  St.  Paul’s  song  of  love  are  all 
based  on  this  fact  that  to  preach  or  give  money  or  even  go  to 
the  stake  are  not  in  themselves  fellowship.  “You  have  given  your 
goods  to  feed  the  poor,”  said  Bishop  Azariah,  speaking  for  the 
people  of  India  and  addressing  men  and  women  of  other  races  who 
cared  supremely  for  India.  “You  have  given  your  bodies  to  be 
burned.  We  would  ask  for  love.  Give  us  friends.^^ 

This  fact  that  human  life  is  not  fed  save  on  such  fellowship, 
and  that  fellowship  comes  through  sharing  and  not  merely  giving, 
is  restated  vividly  in  Lowell’s  “The  Vision  of  Sir  Launfal”;  where 
Christ,  discovered  by  Sir  Launfal  in  the  leper  with  whom  the 
knight  has  shared  bread  and  water  by  a  stream,  says : 

The  Holy  Supper  is  kept  indeed 
In  what  so  we  share  with  another ’s  need. 

Not  what  we  give  but  what  we  share 
For  the  gift  without  the  giver  is  bare. 

Who  gives  himself  with  his  gift  feeds  three, 

Himself,  his  hungering  neighbour  and  Me.. 


u 


FELLOWSHIP 


IV 

Fellowship,  then,  is  impossible  apart  from  personal  intercourse 
on  a  common  footing.  We  believe  that  there  is,  when  we  get 
down  to  the  bed-rock  realities  of  life,  no  common  footing  to  be 
discovered  in  the  fact  of  being  human.  The  brotherhood  of  man 
(biologically,  anthropologically,  ethnologically  man)  simply  does 
not  exist  either  in  his  history  or  his  make-up  or  his  prospects. 
Inter-class  prejudices  and  diversities,  international  differences  and 
distastes,  inter-racial  antipathies  and  even  loathings  make  it  im¬ 
possible  to  secure  a  common  footing  there.  ^^Experience  leads  me 
to  the  conviction,’’  said  Sir  Sidney  Olivier  on  the  basis  of  experi¬ 
ence  as  Governor  of  Jamaica,  where  the  problem  of  the  relationship 
of  white*  and  black  is  a  permanent  pre-occupation  of  statesmanship, 
^^that  there  is  no^  basis  for  inter-racial  relationship  save  on  a 
spiritual  plane.”  That  is  to  say,  there  is  no  real  basis  for  real 
fellowship  on  a  world  scale  save  on  a  spiritual  plane.  Men,  in  a 
word,  are  not  brothers  by  birth  in  the  human  sense;  they  are 
brothers  by  new  birth  in  the  superhuman  sense.  Their  brotherhood 
finds  absolute  and  enduring  reality  only  in  a  spiritual  parentage — 
in  a  word,  in  the  Fatherhood  of  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  That  common  sonship  found  in  sharing  the  sonship 
of  Jesus  Christ  does  in  fact — and  not  in  rhetoric — form  the  one 
permanent  foundation  of  world-fellowship. 

On  the  increasing  practice  of  fellowship,  in  the  sense  of  the 
triumph  of  unity  over  discord  between  nations  and  races,  in  sober 
fact  the  future  of  that  world  depends.  For  such  fellowship 
beginning  as  it  does  between  individual  men  finds  a  fuller  operation 
between  groups  and  organisations,  between  clans  and  nations  and 
races.  The  whole  story  of  human  progress  is,  in  this  aspect,  the 
dramatic  record  of  the  gradual  substitution  of  higher  forms  of 
unity  for  division.  So  inter-tribal  fighting  and  clan  war  die  as 
the  unity  develops  the  clans  into  the  nation  or  the  tribes  in  the 
race.  And  the  crucial  issue  of  our  own  century  is  simply  and 
centrally  whether  the  principle  of  fellowship  embodied  in  a  world- 
league  of  nations  and  of  races  is  or  is  not  to  supersede  that  lack 
of  fellowship  which  (as  William  Morris  has  said)  means  hell,  and 
has  meant  between  nations  in  our  own  day  a  hell  of  inextinguish¬ 
able  anguish. 

We  have  been  forced  by  the  frightful  logic  of  war  to  recognise 
that  the  erection  of  the  solitary  ambition  of  one  empire  above  the 
general  right  of  all  nations  is  on  the  international  scale  the  precise 
equivalent  of  lack  of  fellowship  between  individual  men ;  and  that 


THE  MEANING  OF  FELLOWSHIP 


15 


just  that  failure  in  fellowship  between  nations  involved  humanity 
in  the  maiming  and  destruction  of  the  flower  of  its  young  life 
and  in  the  intolerable  agony  of  war.  But 'that  international  com¬ 
plex  of  antagonisms,  that  uneasy  balance  of  armed  power  defend¬ 
ing  competing  interests,  is  simply  the  expression  in  the  field  of 
international  affairs  of  the  inter-class  antagonisms,  the  commercial 
rivalries,  the  civic  jealousies,  the  interdenominational  distrusts, 
and  the  personal  bickerings  that  hold  considerable  sway  in  the  na¬ 
tional,' ecclesiastical,  local  and  individual  life. 


V 

The  central  aim  of  the  new  world,  then,  is  the  increase  of 
fellowship.  The  supreme  need  of  men  of  all  races  is  that  they 
should  share,  not  formal  agreements  that  may  be  torn  up,  not 
superficial  delimitations  of  influence  that  simply  secure  a  tempo¬ 
rary  and  uneasy  peace  through  separation  by  railings  and  fences; 
but  a  growing  fellowship  of  rich  intercourse.  The  ultimate  salva¬ 
tion  of  the  world  lies  in  the  practice  of  that  Christian  fellowship 
which  will  alone  bridge  inter-racial  gulfs  and  inter-class  chasms. 

To  that  end  we  need,  first,  fellowship  within  the  Church  and 
between  the  Churches,  for,  literally,  fellowship  is  the  life-blood 
of  the  Christian  Church.  It  is  the  pulsating  arterial  flow  which 
sets  all  the  limbs  of  her  immortal  body  tingling  with  divine  vitality 
and  vigor,  and  fits  her  for  the  service  of  man  and  the  glory  of 
God.  ,We  need  fellowship  between  capital  and  labour,  for  there 
alone  lies  the  hope — and  it  is  a  rich  hope — of  building  up  a  national 
life  in  which  each  class  shall  give  its  service  for  the  strength 
and  joy  of  the  whole.  Superlatively  the  call  comes  for  fellowship 
between  races  of  all  colours.  For  in  a  world  literally  made  one 
by  the  miracles  of  physical  science  applied  to  communication  and 
transport,  and  made  helpless  against  those  miracles  of  science 
applied  to  the  slaughter  of  men,  there  is  no  alternative  to  a 
growing  fellowship  of  mutual  understanding  save  a  swift  and 
ghastly  increase  of  inter-racial  rivalry  in  trade  ambitions  and 
labour  jealousies.  Such  rivalry  will  precipitate  humanity  over 
the  precipice  of  universal  war  into  the  abyss  of  barbarism,  where 
men  will  cringe  in  helpless  terror  and  in  unavailing  remorse  amid 
the  ruins  of  a  world  whose  rich  heritage  might  have  been  saved 
by  the  practice  of  fellowship. 

The  supreme  need  of  the  world,  then,  is  to  replace  the  competing 
rivalries  of  hate  by  the  generous  rivalries  of  Christian  fellowship 
on  every  plane  of  human  life — individual,  commercial,  religious. 


16 


FELLOWSHIP 


between  the  classes,  international,  and  lastly,  but  supremely,  inter¬ 
racial.  Only  so  can  the  world  escape,  not  only  further  degradation 
and  the  agony  of  greater  wars,  but  the  ultimate  ruin  of  ordered 
and  humane  life.  Beginning  in  the  individual  and  working  up¬ 
ward  and  outward  it  is  essential  that  comity  should  replace 
conflict,  that  fellowship  should  rule  in  every  sphere  of  life,  and 
that  the  irresistible  authority  of  an  alliance  of  nations  working  in 
moral  co-operation  should  plan  and  erect,  assailable  yet  impreg¬ 
nable,  the  walls  of  the  City  of  God. 


ir  FELLOWSHIP  IN  THOUGHT 

AND  PRAYER 


I  . 

The  starting-point  is  found  in  a  fresh  recognition — so  vivid 
and  powerful  as  to  constitute  almost  a  re-discovery — of  three  of 
the  Church’s  age-long  convictions. 

The  first  of  these  is  the  belief  in  the  Divine  sufficiency.  Ad¬ 
mittedly,  the  Church  is  far  too  weak  of  herself  to  satisfy  the  mani¬ 
fold  and  bitter  need  of  the  world.  For  this,  God,  and  God  only, 
is  sufficient.  But  that  He  is  sufficient  is  not  merely  a  beautiful 
theory ;  it  is  a  most  real  and  practical  fact  on  which  we  must  learn 
to  count  with  a  more  simple  directness.  Though  we  ourselves 
neither  are  nor  ever  can  be  equal  to  the  situation  that  confronts  us, 
God  is  equal  to  it.  His  matchless  wdsdom  is  never  baffled.  The 
situation  may  well  be  one  which  He  Himself  did  not  design — 
the  creation,  not  of  His  purpose,  but  of  man’s  wilful  misuse  of  his 
freedom.  Hone  the  less  on  that  account,  the  action  for  which 
it  calls  is  plainly  manifest  to  Him.  So  long  as  God  lives 
no  position  will  be  hopeless.  There  can  be  no  problem  of  human 
life,  however  complicated  by  human  wrongdoing,  of  which  He 
does  not  see  the  right  solution. 

Not  only  does  God  perceive  this  solution,  but — and  here  is  the 
second  conviction — it  is  also  His  Will  to  reveal  it.  The  God 
Whom  Jesus  made  known.  Who  numbers  the  very  hairs  of  our 
head  and  without  Whose  notice  not  a  sparrow  falls  to  the  ground, 
does  not  dwell  apart  from  the  world  that  He  has  made.  As  the 
Incarnation  has  taught  us  once  for  all.  He  is  to  be  found  in  the 
midst  of  the  world’s  travail  and  agony,  seeking  to  bring  order  out 
of  chaos  and  moral  life  out  of  moral  death.  Such  a  God  will 
not  leave  us  to  ourselves  as  we  strive  to  act  as  His  allies :  He  will 
be  ceaselessly  waiting  to  guide  us. 

At  no  time,  therefore,  need  we  be  dependent  solely  upon  our 
own  wisdom:  there  is  a  higher  Wisdom  to  which  we  have  free  and 
constant  access.  In  whatever  capacity  we  may  be  called  upon  to 

17 


18 


FELLOWSHIP 


act  (whether  as  citizens  or  as  members  of  a  church  or  as  private 
individuals),  and  by  whatever  circumstances  our  conduct  may  be 
conditioned  (whether  by  those  ordained  of  God  Himself  or  by 
others  originated  through  human  folly),  we  can  find  ourselves  in 
no  position  in  which  He  is  not  willing  to  reveal  the  path  He 
requires  us  to  follow.  The  New  Testament  promise  of  guidance, 
far  too  prominent  in  its  pages  ever  to  be  eradicated,  implies  that 
through  our  fellowship  with  God  in  Christ  our  own  thought  may 
be  corrected  and  informed  by  the  Divine  thought.""  In  so  far  as 
this  ideal  is  realised,  in  all  the  problems  of  the  Kingdom  we  may 
count  with  simple  confidence  upon  God’s  detailed  and  particular 
direction. 

This  daring  assertion  leads  us  naturally  to  the  third  of  the 
convictions  on  which  the  deeper  emphasis  is  being  laid.  Like  all 
the  spiritual  gifts  of  God,  the  guidance  thus  claimed  is  spiritually 
conditioned.  We  must  be  ready  to  receive  as  well  as  He  to  bestow. 
Indeed,  the  Divine  gift  will  be  proportionate  to  the  human  recep¬ 
tivity.  It  is  only  as  our  will  is  progressively  surrendered  to  His 
perfect  Will  that  the  Divine  direction  can  be  made  progressively 
clear  to  us. 


II 

On  this  third  conviction  it  will  be  necessary  for  us  to  dwell  a 
little  more  fully.  In  the  quest  for  guidance  the  submission  of  our 
will  to  God  must  manifest  itself  at  two  important  points. 

In  the  first  place,  we  need  to  be  set  free  from  all  self-assertion 
in  our  thinking.  Human  self-assertion  forms  the  chief  hindrance 
to  the  revelation  of  God’s  Will.  It  is  but  too  easy  unwittingly 
and  unintentionally  to  deaden  our  sensitiveness  to  His  voice 
through  prejudice  and  personal  predilections.  Not  unnaturally 
almost  every  problem  is  approached  with  an  individual  bias  of 
some  kind.  We  are  apt  to  hold  tenaciously  to  particular  views 
already  formed,  or  to  particular  methods  rendered  familiar  by 
custom,  and  in  consequence  the  peril  of  a  bondage  to  our  pre¬ 
conceived  ideas  is  never,  perhaps,  entirely  absent.  There  is  the 
risk,  again,  so  long  as  we  are  human,  that  our  thinking  may  be 
influenced  by  our  individual  wishes.  The  knowledge  that  through 
our  decision  we  ourselves  or  others  may  be  affected  in  position  or 
authority,  or  that  some  favourite  plan  may  be  promoted  or  frus- 

^  “In  this  connection  I  may  refer  to  1  Corinthians  ii,  16,  ‘We  have  the 
mind  of  Christ,’  which  does  not  merely  mean,  we  ‘think’  as  Christ  thinks, 
but  ‘Christ  thinks  in  us’ ;  the  mental  processes  of  the  Christian  are  under 
the  immediate  inspiration  of  the  spirit  of  Christ.’’ — Johannes -Weiss,  “Paul 
and  Jesus,’’  p.  115.  (E.  T.) 


FELLOWSHIP  IN  THOUGHT  AND  PRAYER  19 


trated,  may  readily  impel  our  judgment  in  this  direction  or  in  that. 
All  thinking’  into  which  such  considerations  are  allowed  to  enter 
implies  a  merely  partial  consecration  of  the  will.  The  love  of  our 
own  preferences  and  desires — even  in  relation  to  the  Kingdom  of 
God — may  prove  an  effective  barrier  between  our  souls  and  Him. 
Unless  we  are  prepared,  when  we  profess  to  seek  God’s  guidance,  to 
give  up,  should  He  ask  it,  our  own  strongest  wishes  and  most 
deeply-rooted  prejudices,  we  are  imposing  conditions  upon  God: 
we  are  setting  Him  limits  within  which  to  work ;  we  are  saying,  in 
effect,  that  we  pray  Him  to  lead  us  provided  that  the  leading  shall 
he  kept  within  the  hounds  of  our  own  fixed  opinions.  It  is  not 
in  such  an  attitude  of  mind  that  men  can  receive  the  clear  revela¬ 
tion  of  the  Divine  purpose.  For  the  existence  of  personal  bias, 
it  is  true,  we  may  not  be  always  or  wholly  responsible,  but  for 
readiness  to  lay  it  aside  at  the  call  of  God,  we  most  certainly  are. 
The  underlying  assi^mption  of  all  true  prayer  for  God’s  direction 
is  that  it  is  God’s  thought  of  the  position,  and  His  only,  that  we 
seek.  In  every  problem  that  arises,  we  can  gain  the  knowledge  of 
God’s  will  only  in  so  far  as  our  own  minds  are  laid  freely 
at  His  disposal.  In  other  words,  the  first  condition  of  guidance  is 
that  we  are  willing  to  he  guided. 

In  the  second  place,  when  God’s  will  has  once  been  made  plain, 
we  must  be  ready,  with  a  strong  and  simple  faith,  to  accept 
courageously  whatever  situation  it  involves.  Our  preconceived  ideas 
and  hopes  are  not  the  only  means  of  setting  limits  to  God’s  guid¬ 
ance  ;  we  may  restrict  Him  just  as  surely  by  a  nervous  fear  of  con¬ 
sequences.  The  acts  of  God  are  often  so  drastic  in  their  character 
that,  from  our  cautious  human  standpoint,  we  find  it  hard  to 
understand  them.  Sometimes  before  He  builds  up  He  breaks  down. 
Sometimes  He  severs  ere  He  unifies.  He  rejects  a  chosen  nation. 
He  divides  a  Church.  He  forsakes  a  long-established  method.  He 
abandons  some  time-honoured  instrument  of  service.  Even  to 
His  own  people,  at  the  hour  of  crisis,  such  far-reaching  changes' 
are  apt  to  bring  a  blind  and  impotent  perplexity.  We  confuse  the 
‘‘accidents”  with  the  “essence”  of  His  working.  Through  long 
experience  we  have  learnt  so  closely  to  associate  the  Divine  activity 
with  certain  forms  through  which  it  has  expressed  itself  and 
certain  conditions  by  which  it  has  usually  been  accompanied, 
that  when  these  forms  and  these  conditions  are  endangered,  we 
begin  to  fear  for  the  Divine  activity  itself.  The  result  may  be, 
and  often  is,  that  an  unworthy  and  mistaken  dread  of  what  may 
happen  prejudices  our  mind  against  paUicular  suggestions,  thus 
gravely  circumscribing  our  susceptibility  to  the  Divine  guidance. 
The  moral  is  not,  of  course,  that  we  must  be  reckless  of  possible 


20 


FELLOWSHIP 


consequences,  for  there  is  a  wise  and  altogether  necessary  atten¬ 
tion  that  is  due  to  them.  It  is  the  more  sane  and  moderate  lesson 
that  we  should  not,  through  fear  of  them,  make  ourselves  their 
slaves,  since  there  is  no  less  truly  a  respect  for  them  that  is  both 
cowardly  and  altogether  dangerous.  Christian  men  and  women 
can  never  safely  neglect  the  faith  that  “ventures.”  The  great  type 
of  faith  is  one  who  went  forth  “not  knowing  whither  he  went.” 
Such  a  faith  is  the  second  essential  condition  of  God’s  guidance. 
Just  as  we  must  strive  to  free  our  minds  from  every  preconceived 
impression  so  we  must  abandon  all  unworthy  fear.  An  undue  bias 
may  be  given  to  our  thought  by  the  one  no  less  than  by  the  other. 
There  is  a  price  to  be  paid  for  clear  knowledge  of  God’s  will,  and 
not  seldom  that  price  may  be  the  readiness  to  sacrifice  our  trusted 
methods,  our  reliance  on  particular  persons  or  the  security  prom¬ 
ised  by  some  familiar  “safeguard.”  We  must  be  willing,  with 
simple  faith,  to  take  the  one  step  that  is  plainly  right,  and  go 
forth  with  God,  even  though  it  be  into  the  darkness  of  the  unknown. 

We  now  see  a  part,  at  least,  of  what  is  meant  by  the  statement 
that  the  Divine  guidance  is  spiritually  conditioned.  All  thinking 
which,  by  prejudice,  self-interest,  or  fear,  asserts  the  “self”  over 
against  the  interests  of  the  Kingdom,  thereby  and  to  that  extent 
impairs  God’s  power  of  leading  us.  For  those  men  and  women, 
therefore,  who  wish  to  receive  the  clearest  revelation  of  God’s 
mind,  the  removal  of  every  such  restriction  becomes  a  simple 
necessity.  This  is  the  third  fundamental  conviction  ^in  the 
standpoint  we  are  seeking  to  elucidate. 

Ill 

The  human  fellowship  with  God  on  which  reliance  chiefly 
rests  is  corporate  in  character.  This  is  no  disparagement  of  the 
intercourse  enjoyed  by  each  separate  soul  with  God,  the  necessity 
for  which  can 'never  be  transcended.  But  it  is  believed  that  that 
solitary  contact  with  God  does  not  exhaust  the  possibilities  of  our 
communion.  Ko  one  of  us  lives  unto  himself.  We  are  members  one 
of  another,  and  there  is  none  who  can  say  to  his  neighbour,  “I  have 
no  need  of  thee.”  Hence  in  our  common  fellowship  we  may  ex¬ 
perience  a  mutual  enrichment  by  means  of  which  our  whole 
capacity  of  vision  and  of  receptivity  will  be  enlarged.  “Where  two 
or  three  are  gathered”  in  the  Name  a  special  promise  of  the 
Presence  is  assured;  and  therefore  a  group  of  men  and  women 
praying  or  thinking  together  with  unity  of  spirit  and  purpose 
may  expect  to  receive  a  blessing  which  is  more  than  the  sum 


FELLOWSHIP  IN  THOUGHT  AND  PRAYER  21 


total  of,  and  different  in  quality  from,  the  blessing  each  would 
have  received  through  the  same  amount  of  individual  prayer  or 
thought.  This  revived  emphasis  upon  the  reality  of  the  Church’s 
corporate  life  and  upon  its  necessity  to  the  complete  experience 
of  each  member  is  full  of  significance,  and  no  one  should  need  to 
be  reminded  that  it  is  simply  a  return  to  the  New  Testament  point 
of  view.  Its  practical  outcome  in  the  solving  of  the  Kingdom’s 
problems  is  that  it  yields  us  a  clear  and  definite  method  in  our 
search  for  God’s  guidance.  We  learn  to  look  for  His  direction  in 
a  spiritual  communion — a  communion  which  is  fellowship  with 
one  another  as  well  as  fellowship  with  Him ;  or,  rather,  since  there 
are  not  two  experiences/ but  one,  a  communion  which  is  fellowship 
with  one  another  in  Him. 

We  have  called  this  a  “clear  and  definite  method.”  Since  the 
impression  derived  from  a  merely  general  statement  may  rather  be 
that  it  is  somewhat  vague  and  impractical,  it  may  be  well  to  furnish 
a  more  detailed  description  of  the  manner  in  which  it  is  employed. 
A  company  of  men  and  women  meet  together  that  they  may 
seek  that  richer  consciousness  of  God,  and,  with  it,  that  clearer 
light  upon  truth  or  conduct,  their  need  of  which  has  been  impressed 
upon  them.  The  first  requirement  is  that  their  power  of  receptivity 
shall  be  intensified.  Of  God’s  willingness  to  lead  them  there  is  no 
question.  The  only  point  of  uncertainty  is  in  their  ability  to 
discern  and  to  respond  to  His  direction.  Therefore  they  will  begin 
with  earnest  and  united  prayer.  This  prayer  will  not  be  hurried; 
it  will  be  a  sustained  act  of  communion.  And  therein  they  will 
desire  four  things.  First,  they  will  together  wait  in  silence  for 
a  more  vivid  sense  of  God’s  Presence  and  Reality.  In  the  strain 
and  bustle  of  ordinary  life  the  vision  of  the  unseen  may  easily 
grow  dim;  they  will  tarry  in  stillness  before  God,  craving  the 
•penitence  and  cleansing  through  which  it  may  once  more  be  made 
clear  to  them.  Next,  they  will  together  pray  for  the  coming  of 
the  Kingdom.  This  will  be  no  light  and  easy  intercession;  they 
will  reverently  strive  to  view  men  from  God’s  own  standpoint,  and, 
so  far  as  may  be,  to  enter  into  His  sorrow  for  the  world’s  sin  and 
His  sympathy  with  the  world’s  need.  And  when  they  have  thus 
learnt  a  little  less  imperfectly  to  see  mankind  as  God  sees  it, 
alike  in  its  transgressions  and  in  its  ultimate  possibilities,  they 
will  at  last  be  ready,  in  the  third  place,  to  ask  for  light  on  the 
particular  matter  in  which  they  need  the  Divine  illumination. 
They  will  therefore  pray  together  that  in  this  special  situation 
God’s  own  design  may  be  made  plain  to  them.  Lastly,  that  all 
hindrance  in  themselves  may  be  removed,  they  will  seek,  before  they 
turn  to  examine  the  problem,  to  be  freed  from  every  form  of  self- 


22 


FELLOWSHIP 


assertion.  In  the  consci'onsly-realised  presence  of  God,  and  relyino* 
on  His  aid,  they  will  try  to  expel  from  their  minds  all  previous  bias, 
all  personal  preferences  and  all  self-seeking  motives,  and  at  what¬ 
ever  cost,  to  will  God’s  will  both  for  themselves  and  for  the  world. 

This  prayer,  it  is  important  to  observe,  is  offered  in  an  atmosphere 
of  fellowship.  The  group  of  men  engaged  is  more  than  a  mere 
collection  of  individuals;  it  is  a  body  of  believers — a  small  but 
essential  section  of  that  living  organism  which  is  the  Church  of 
Christ,  Himself  its  living  Head.  On  this  account  the  entire 
spiritual  efficiency  alike  of  every  part  and  of  the  whole  is  im¬ 
measurably  increased.  Because  of  its  mystical  union  with  its 
fellows  and  with  the  Head,  each  separate  member  acquires  a 
power  never  possessed  and  never  attainable  in  isolation.  The 
prayer  of  each,  his  penitence,  his  consecration,  his  very  experience 
of  God’s  Presence,  is  deepened  and  enriched  by  those  of  all;  and, 
in  its  turn,  “through  that  which  every  joint  supplieth”  the  entire 
body  is  itself  built  up  in  love.  This  is  no  idle  dream  of  what 
might  be;  it  is  a  statement  of  what  actually  takes  place.  And 
it  is  in  this  atmosphere  of  a  fellowship  both  real  and  realised  that 
those  who  employ  the  method  we  interpret  are  first  made  ready  for 
the  revelation  of  God’s  will. 

From  this  act  of  united  communion  they  will  pass,  in  the  same 
spirit  of  dependence,  to  their  task  of  serious  deliberation.  The 
problem  before  them  demands  and  must  receive  the  most  strenu¬ 
ous  and  enlightened  thought  that  they  are  capable  of  affording. 
There  could  be  no  greater  error  than  to  infer  from  the  stress  laid 
on  communion  that  the  method  is  crudely  quietistic,  depreciating 
intelligence  and  trusting  to  vague  and  irrational  impulses.  On 
the  contrary,  we  have  met  with  no  assemblies  of  men  by  whom 
the  duty  of  sincere  and  resolute  thinking  is  more  clearly  appre¬ 
hended.  True,  their  ultimate  reliance  is  upon  a  wisdom  higher 
than  their  own.  Christ’s  promise  that  His  Spirit  shall  guide  them 
into  all  the  truth  they  believe  to  be,  not  merely  a  beautiful  ideal, 
but  also  a  practical  fact  on  which  they  may  safely  count.  None 
the  less,  beneath  this  confidence  in  a  heavenly  guidance  there 
dwells  no  lurking  hostility  to  human  reason.  The  inference  drawn 
is  rather  that,  since  God  has  made  us  rational  beings,  it  is  through 
our  minds  that  He  will  most  naturally  lead  us.  Therefore,  pre¬ 
pared  by  united  communion,  they  turn  in  their  search  for  God’s 
will  to  a  frank  and  determined  discussion. 


FELLOWSHIP  IN  THOUGHT  AND  PRAYER  2S 


IV 

This  brings  us  to  another  point  at  which  for  the  proper  under¬ 
standing  of  the  method,  the  utmost  clearness  becomes  necessary. 
From  first  to  last  in  all  their  discussions  these  men  and  women 
endeavour  to  think  and  talk  onli/  m  the  spirit  of  their  prayer. 
They  will  use  their  brains,  and  use  them,  as  we  have  said,  at 
least  as  acutely  as  those  who  lay  less  practical  stress  upon  prayer. 
But  in  all  their  thought  their  minds  are  made  subject  to  a  higher 
Control.  That  is  to  say,  while  they  will  bring  their  keenest  intelli¬ 
gence  to  bear  upon  the  problem  under  consideration,  they  will  do 
so  not  as  men  of  self-assertion  who  cling  tenaciously  to  views  al¬ 
ready  formed,  but  as  men  who  are  honestly  seeking  God’s  guidance 
and  therefore  are  prepared,  even  at  the  cost  of  strongly-rooted 
prejudices,  to  revise  all  earlier  conclusions  by  any  new  light  that 
He  may  reveal  to  them. 

This  light  they  are  ready  to  receive  from  any  quarter.  Indeed, 
they  are  more  than  ready,  they  are  anxious,  to  do  so.  For  they 
realise  that  in  thought,  as  in  all  else,  we  are  members  one  of 
another.  Here  once  again  the  fundamental  fact  of  corporate  life 
emerges  into  prominence.  No  one  man’s  mind,  however  cultivated 
and  sincere,  can  perceive  the  whole  truth,  whether  in  relation  to 
conduct  o,r  in  relation  to  thought.  As  the  physical  light,  falling 
on  various  objects,  is  refiected  in  various  shades  of  colour,  each 
but  a  partial  presentation  of  its  great  original,  so  the  light  of  truth, 
reflected  from  men’s  different  minds,  is  found  to  exhibit  many 
different  aspects,  in  no  single  one  of  which  can  truth’s  perfect 
image  be  discerned.  In  the  second  case,  as  in  the  first,  the  pure 
white  light  is  gained  only  when  all  these  partial  reflections  are 
combined.  Each  individual’s  view  needs  to  be  checked  and  supple¬ 
mented  by  the  view  of  his  fellows.  It  is  not  merely  that  no  separate 
human  being  ever  has  attained  a  perfect  wisdom;  as  a  separate 
human  being  he  never  can  attain  it.  He  has  been  so  made  that  he 
will  find  his  fullest  life  only  in  fellowship  with  others — a  fact 
which  applies  to  his  intellectual  life  as  well  as  to  life  in  all  its 
other  phases.  As,  then,  he  seeks  to  form  right  judgments,  he  has 
no  power,  even  if  he  had  the  will,  to  be  strictly  independent.  He 
was  born  a  member  of  a  body,  and  not  even  in  his  thinking  has  he 
the  right  to  say  to  another,  “I  have  no  need  of  thee.” 

That  being  the  case,  men  who  are  seeking  God’s  guidance  in  any 
given  situation,  and  believe  that  their  minds  are  the  instruments 
through  which  He  is  wont  to  direct  them,  will  be  eager  to  welcome 
light  from  every  possible  angle.  It  will  be  assumed  that  no  single 


24 


FELLOWSHIP 


point  of  view  contains  the  whole  truth  which  God  is  waiting  to  re¬ 
veal;  and  this  will  be  acknowledged  even  by  those  among  whom 
that  point  of  view  may  be  most  strongly  maintained.  But  it  will 
also  be  assumed  that  every  point  of  view  adopted  by  an  honest 
thinker  will  probably  embody  some  aspect  of  the  truth — an  aspect 
which,  however  partial  or  exaggerated,  yet  cannot  safely  be  neg' 
lected  in  the  final  synthesis;  and  this  fact  will  be  freely  recog¬ 
nised  even  by  those  who  regard  that  standpoint  with  the  utmost 
initial  prejudice.  In  other  words,  the  path  to  truth,  whether  in 
thought  or  in  action,  lies  along  the  line  of  accepting  light  from 
every  quarter — even  from  that  with  which  at  first  we  have  the  least 
degree  of  sympathy — and  in  focussing  these  scattered  rays  into  as 
real  a  unity  as  we  are  then  able  to  attain. 


V 

Two  features  of  this  method  call,  even  at  the  risk  of  repetition, 
for  a  slightly  extended  emphasis,  (a)  Since  an  open  mind,  which 
is  only  another  name  for  willingness  to  be  taught,  is  one  of  its 
essential  conditions,  to  ignore  the  view  of  those  whose  ideas  are 
opposed  to  one’s  own ;  to  regard  it  with  suspicion ;  to  treat  it  with 
sarcasm  or  ridicule;  to  overcome  it  merely  by  some  clever  ruse; 
most  of  all,  to  deny,  in  the  Name  of  Christ,  the  fundamental 
Christian  spirit  by  making  the  difference  a  ground  for  angry  and 
unmannerly  quarrels — to  do  any  or  all  of  these  things  is  as  unsafe 
as  it  is  pagan.  However  little  we  realise  the  fact,  it  may  in  reality 
be  to  close  our  eyes  to  one  of  the  sources  from  which  some 
ray  of  God’s  own  light  was  meant  to  come  to  us,  and  so  to  limit 
His  power  of  leading  us  into  the  full  knowledge  of  His  will. 
Therefore,  every  man  is  not  only  allowed  but  expected  to  say 
exactly  what  he  thinks,  without  the  slightest  fear  of  misunder¬ 
standing  or  offence.  It  is  a  basal  assumption  that  truth  is  stronger 
than  error  and  even  than  partial  truth,  and  that  undue  sensitive¬ 
ness  at  hearing  one’s  own  views  criticised  or  contradicted  is  a 
latent  form  of  self-assertion,  unworthy  of  a  Christian,  (h)  Though 
every  man’s  conviction  is  thus  entitled  to  respect,  it  is  accepted 
only  in  so  far  as,  after  due  consideration,  it  appears  to  be  the 
medium  of  Divine  direction.  To  assign  an  added  weight  to  a 
man’s  opinion  in  virtue  of  his  wealth,  on  the  ground  of  his  status, 
social  or  official,  or  because,  forgetful  of  the  Christian  mind,  he 
manifests  a  dogmatic  and  imperious  temper,  is  nothing  less  than 
a  betrayal  of  truth.  Any  who  expected  to  command  so  adventi¬ 
tious  an  importance  would  be  placing  human  considerations  before 


FELLOWSHIP  IN  THOUGHT  AND  PRAYER)  55 


tlie  interests  of  the  Kingdom :  any  who  yielded  to  it  would  be  guilty 
of  collusion  in  the  sin.  This  error,  like  the  wish  to  silence  judg¬ 
ments  contrary  to  our  own,  proves  a  most  serious  obstacle  in  the 
way  of  God’s  guidance.  It  involves,  in  fact,  a  denial  of  the  very 
spirit  and  temper  by  which  that  guidance  is  conditioned. 

In  conversation  conducted  on  such  principles  as  these  the  clear 
and  definite  guidance  of  God  may  be  confidently  expected.  Badly 
stated  in  black  and  white,  this  truth  may  seem  somewhat  vague  and 
unconvincing :  experienced  in  actual  practice,  its  impressiveness 
is  at  times  almost  startling,  and  some  of  its  definite  results  have 
been  remarkable.  For  when  self-assertion  has  once  been  forsaken, 
and  through  its  removal  men’s  minds  are  at  last  made  truly  recep¬ 
tive,  a  very  real  and  precious  fellowship  in  thought  is  rendered  pos¬ 
sible.  Mind  acts  freely  on  mind,  each  in  its  turn  exploring, 
checking,  challenging  the  other.  The  thought  of  each  is  quickened 
and  stimulated.  It  rises  to  possibilities  as  yet  unrealised  in  its 
moments  of  solitary  activity.  Exaggerations  a.re  corrected,  defi¬ 
ciencies  supplied,  the  sense  of  proportion  duly  adjusted.  And 
in  the  process  many  earlier  differences  of  view  are  found  to  dis¬ 
appear.  A  perceptible  rapprochement  is  effected,  and  in  the  end 
a  measure  of  agreement  reached  which  at  the  outset  would  have 
appeared  in  the  highest  degree  improbable.  It  is  in  this  way  that, 
as  each  individual  thinker  approaches  nearer  to  a  common  centre, 
the  wonderful  phenomenon  of  corporate  thought  is  experienced. 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  of  course,  that  this  result  is  always,  or 
even  generally,  achieved  with  ease.  The  process  is  one  which 
calls  for  determined  thinking  and  untiring  patience.  To  seem  to 
suggest  that,  even  in  such  an  atmosphere,  difficulties  conveniently 
vanish  of  themselves  would  be  entirely  misleading  and  untrue. 
Initial  differences  of  judgments  are  not  to  be  reconciled  by 
hastily-considered  suggestions  or  within  a  previously  determined 
time-limit:  they  yield  only  to  the  disinterested  search  which  is 
prepared  to  spare  neither  time  nor  effort  in  seeking  for  the 
truth.  In  such  a  search,  indeed,  the  first  stage  will  often  seem 
to  accentuate  rather  than  to  reduce  the  difficulties.  For  since, 
in  the  final  synthesis,  due  weight  is  to  be  assigned  to  the  truth 
underlying  every  standpoint  that  can  fairly  be  defended,  the 
earliest  step  of  all  must  be  to  bring  each-  difficulty  out  into  the 
open  light,  to  consider  it  frankly  without  bias,  and  to  endeavour  to 
appreciate  its  degree  of  strength  no  less  than  the  points  at  which  it 
is  capable  of  adjustment.  Discussion  of  the  differences  of  judgment 
thus  thrown  into  clear  relief  will  naturally  issue  in  more  than 
one  kind  of  result.  Sometimes  the  differences  will  be  resolved 
more  quickly;  at  other  times  with  greater  effort.  Sometimes  the 


20 


FELLOWSHIP 


agreement  reached  will  be  complete;  at  other  times  it  will  be  only 
partial.  In  each  alternative,  however,  the  progress  from  diversity 
towards  unity  will  normally  be  found  to  be  so  marked  and  so 
impressive  that  no  mere  power  of  human  persuasion  will  any  longer 
appear  sufficient  to  account  for  it.  In  the  view  of  those  by  whom 
it  has  actually  been  experienced,  there  is  only  one  explanation  which 
will  satisfy  the  facts.  In  response  to  their  united  prayer  and  faith 
they  have  received  a  very  real  and  definite  guidance  of  God. 


VI 

Here,  then,  is  a  definite  and  practical  method  of  seeking  to 
learn  the  will  of  God.  Its  basal  assumiition  is  that  of  Scripture — 
the  abiding  reality  of  the  Divine  guidance.  It  does  not,  however, 
in  any  final  sense,  oppose  the  Divine  guidance  to  human  reason. 
It  teaches,  rather,  that,  instead  of  being  alternative  means  of 
direction  between  which  we  have  to  choose,  these  two  are  comple¬ 
mentary  the  one  to  the  other.  We  have  not  to  trust  either  Divine 
guidance  or  human  reason:  our  reliance  should  be  upon  Divine 
guidance  revealed  through  human  reason ;  but  through  human 
reason  disciplined  for  this  very  purpose  in  two  ways — firstly,  by 
communion  with  God,  and  secondly,  by  fellowship  in  thought  and 
prayer  with  other  men. 

It  is  this  emphasis  upon  fellowship — with  our  fellow-men  as 
well  as  with  God — that  forms  the  distinctive  mark  of  the  method 
we  have  been  studying.  This  emphasis  does  not  ignore  the  place 
of  the  individual  in  the  world’s  moral  and  religious  development. 
Most  of  our  progress  in  the  past  has  been  inspired  by  great  leaders 
of  thought  and  action,  and  the  need  for  them  will  probably  never 
be  outgrown.  But — apart  from  the  fact  that  even  they  are  largely 
the  product  and  mouthpiece  of  the  common  tendencies  of  their 
age — the  personalities  of  great  leaders  are  not  the  only  medium 
through  which  Divine  illumination  may  come  to  us.  In  the  fel¬ 
lowship  of  ordinary  men  and  women,  consecrated  by  their  devotion 
to  Christ  and  to  one  another,  there  lies  a  power  which  neither  the 
world  nor  the  Church  of  the  present  day  has  learnt  adequately  to 
appreciate.  ' 

To  the  value  and  reality  of  this  power  it  has  been  our  aim 
to  invite  attention,  and  with  this  end  in  view  we  have  expounded 
one  method  by  which  it  may  be  applied.  Needless  to  say,  this 
method  is  not  the  only  one  available:  in  the  great  search  for 
truth  and  duty  the  principles  of  fellowship  may  be  explored  along 
many  other  detailed  lines  than  those  traced  out  in  the  present 


FELLOWSHIP  IN  THOUGHT  AND  PRAYER  ^7 


chapter.  Nor,  again,  is  the  method  possessed  of  any  quasi-magieal 
virtue,  as  though  it  could  yield  men  direction  in  return  for  its 
merely  mechanical  application :  its  efficacy  resides  exclusively  in  the 
spiritvial  aim  and  attitude  by  which  it  is  conditioned.  The  claim 
we  have  sought  to  make  for  it  is,  neither  that  it  stands  alone  as  a 
medium  for  guidance  nor  that  it  has  acquired  any  arbitrary  or  arti¬ 
ficial  value,  but  that,  applied  with  strict  fidelity  to  its  underlying 
principles,  it  has  been  proved  by  experience  to  be  a  real  and  power¬ 
ful  instrument  of  progress.  Its  employment  even  on  a  limited 
scale  has  already  produced  definite  and  remarkable  results ;  its  latent 
possibilities  we  believe  to  be  incalculable.  The  Church  in  this 
generation  has  yet  to  learn  the  secret  of  fellowship.  The  conse¬ 
quences  of  such  an  enlightenment  no  prophet  could  foretell.  It  may 
be  that  for  the  Church  to  master  that  secret  would  be  to  solve 
her  most  inveterate  problems  and  to  find  the  key  to  the  triumph 
of  the  Kingdom. 


Ill:  FELLOWSHIP  IN  ACTION 


I 

If  our  argument  is  valid,  on  the  one  hand,  that  a 'Relatively 
untapped  source  of  immense  power  lies  in  fellowship  in  thought  and 
in  prayer;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  world  is  in  peril  of 
chaos  for  lack  of  this  very  gift,  it  must  follow  that  the  immediate 
and  sustained  practice  of  fellowship  is  vital  at  once  to  the  life  of  the 
Church  and  Lo  the  saving  of  the  world.  It  is  not  that  the  Church 
has  the  choice  whether  she  will  go  on  living  without  fellowship  or 
with  it.  There  is  no  such  alternative.  If  she  has  fellowship  she 
will  have  life — abundantly.  But  if  she  fails  in  fellowship  she  will 
die.  And  with  her  would  surely  die  the  world’s  last  great  hope  of  a 
life  of  enduring  and  ordered  freedom  for  all  races  of  men. 

We  hold  the  lively  hope  of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  We  believe 
in  the  Church  as  His  organ  for  bringing  into  being  that  new 
humanity  which  is  the  Kingdom  on  earth.  Yet,  we  see  the 
Church  divided  and  faltering  at  its  task,  failing  at  once  in  vision 
and  in  action,  largely  through  the  defects  of  its  experience  and 
practice  of  fellowship  in  Christ;  and  the  world  in  peril  through 
lack  of  her  leadership.  The*  challenge  is  absolute  and  ultimate. 

What,  then,  are  we — here  and  now — to  do  ? 

We  are  called,  first  to  build  up  a  new  life  of  fellowship  in  the 
Church  for  the  world.  The  Christian  Society,  as  we  have  seen,  is 
ideally  a  spiritual  fellowship  denominated  by  the  idea  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God.  It  is  a  brotherhood  so  intimately  united  with 
Christ  that  it  is  His  body;  its  members  are  His  members.  It  is 
so  filled  and  fused  with  the  Holy  Spirit  that  its  separate  elements 
are  fitly  framed  together  in  His  living  temple.  It  has  the  mind  of 
Christ  so  fully  and  in  such  unity  that  His  will  is  its  will  and  it 
thinks  His  thought.  And  as  His  thought  and  will  are  for  the 
redemption  of  men  everywhere,  that  aim — the  coming  of  His 
Kingdom — dominates  its  life. 

Holding  this  ideal  of  the  life  of  the  Church  before  us  steadily, 
with  its  outline  clearly  focussed,  we  discover  at  least  four  lines 
along  which  the  practice  of  fellowship  in  the  Church  can  be  ad- 

28 


FELLOWSHIP  IN  ACTION 


29 


ventured;  each  avenue  of  exploration  being  vitally  linked  with 
all  the  others.  There  is,  first,  the  life  of  that  congregation  of 
Christian  folk  with  whom  we  worship  under  one  roof;  there  is, 
secondly,  fellowship  in  co-operation  with  the  other  local  groups 
or  congregations — the  Christians  of  other  denominations  in  the 
place  where  we  live ;  there  is,’  thirdly,  the  whole  life  of  the 
denomination  to  which  our  own  little  local  congregation  belongs; 
and  there  is,  fourthly,  the  fellowship  on  the  larger  scale  of  “the 
Holy  Church  throughout  all  the  world.” 


II 

Christendom  is  sharply  divided  upon  many  issues.  But  in  every 
town  and  city  in  the  world  concrete  wrongs  flourish  which  all 
Christian  folk  immediately  recognise  as  evil.  And  there  are 
definite,  explicit  principles  accepted  by  all  informed  Christian  con¬ 
sciences  as  foundations  for  reform. 

There  is,  therefore,  among  Christian  folk  in  a  town,  beneath  the 
doctrinal  and  ecclesiastical  chasms  that  separate  them,  a  real  basis 
of  thorough  unity  both  in  the  condemnation  of  wrongs  and  in 
support  of  needed  reform.  Yet  those  local  civic  evils  of  slum  or 
vice  or  corruption  persist,  and  in  only  a  few  places  is  any  effective 
challenge  being  made  to  them,  or  any  constructive  remedy  being 
vigorously  and  persistently  presented.  It  is  at  once  tragic  and 
grossly  sinful  that  a  nest  of  courts  and  alleys  unfit  for  the  nurture 
of  beasts,  let  alone  of  human  beings;  a  plethora  of  public-houses 
in  a  given  area ;  bad  conditions  of  labour  in  factories  or  in  work¬ 
shops,  and  many  other  anti-social  and  anti-Christian  evils  should 
persist  unchallenged  in  any  city  from  which  they  could  be  swept 
away  by  corporate  action  of  Christian  folk. 

The  major  cause  for  this  general  paralysis  of  the  Church  does 
not  lie  so  much  in  the  absence  of  a  Christian  conscience  as  in  the 
fact  that  that  conscience  is  not  stimulated  and  mobilized.  The  root 
reason  for  this  lack  of  stimulus  and  direction  lies  essentially  in 
the  lack  of  local  fellowship.  Continuous  Christian  fellowship  in  a  • 
city  or  village,  on  a  corporate  interdenominational  basis,  will  bring 
together  the  separate  flickering  lights  of  the  divided  Christian 
people  into  one  powerful  and  effective  flame. 

That  flame  once  kindled  can  burn,  not  only  to  destroy  old  evils, 
but  to  light  up  new  paths.  The  very  fact  of  the  destruction  of 
the  evil  comes  from  propulsive  and  expulsive  force  of  a  new  ideal. 
But  the  process  once  initiated  not  only  destroys  evil  but  builds 
good.  It  is  constructive;  it  is  architectural.  A  new  civic  con- 


30 


FELLOWSHIP 


science  is  created  wliicli  itself  sets  a  new  standard  for  the  plans  of 
the  local  authorities  in  housing:,  in  educating,  in  social  purity,  in 
economic  relations,  and  indeed  in  the  whole  complex  of  human 
relationships.  If  the  Christian  conscience  in  an  increasing  number 
of  cities  and  towns  of  the  world  were  fired  and  focussed  for  re¬ 
shaping  the  life  of  those  places  on  Christian  principles,  the  social 
structure  would  rapidly  be  transformed  into  some  likeness  to 
that  Divine  City  of  which  the  ultimate  plan  is  hidden  in  the  heart 
of  God. 

What  stands  between  us  and  that  desired  result?  It  is,  we 
suggest,  almost  entirely  the  lack  of  conscious,  continuous  fellowship 
in  thought  and  prayer  between  the  Christian  men  and  women  on 
whose  hearts  the  social  civic  wrongs  around  them  are  a  haunting 
“concern.”  The  men  and  women  who  are  alive  to  the  evils  go  about 
their  life  weighed  down  with  a  sickening  sense  of  impotence  in  the 
fact  of  the  crying  need.  They  feel  that  alone  and  separate  they 
are  impotent.  Yet  if  they  were  yoked  together  in  the  irresistible 
vigour  of  a  living  and  even  exuberant  Christian  fellowship  of 
spiritual  communion  and  “mental  sweat” ;  if  they  continually 
gathered  together  at  once  to  think  through  the  problems  both  of 
principle  and  action  and  to  seek  unitedly  for  the  living  power  to 
carry  the  results  into  effect,  a  permanent  contribution  to  the 
foundation  of  the  City  of  God  would  be  made. 


Ill 

The  fellowship  of  Christendom  is  broken.  There  is  no  Table 
Round.  The  seamless  garment  is  rent.  The  voice  of  the  Church 
is  silent  when  it  should  proclaim  one  clear,  authoritative  call,  and 
divided  and  feeble  when  it  should  declare  one  strong,  authentic 
word  to  direct  humanity  up  the  steep  paths  that  climb  from  the 
morasses  that  threaten  to  engulf  man  up  to  the  shining  security 
of  the  plateaux  of  Peace. 

The  challenge  is  absolute;  the  call  is  ultimate  and  inescapable. 
If  the  world  is  to  be  saved,  if  Christ’s  glory  is  to  fill  the  earth,  the 
broken  fellowship  must  be  united,  the  seamless  mystic  garment 
must  be  woven  afresh.  That  sacred  mystery  which  is  the  Church 
must,  fitly  framed  together,  grow  unto  a  holy  temple  in  the  Lord; 
“an  habitation  of  God  throjgh  the  Spirit.” 

“I,  therefore,  the  prisoner  of  the  Lord,  beseech  you  that  ye  walk 
worthy  of  the  vocation  wherewith  ye  are  called,  with  all  lowliness 
and  meekness,  with  long  suffering,  forbearing  one  another  in  love; 
endeavouring  to  keep  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace. 


FELLOWSHIP  IN  ACTION 


31 


“There  is  one  body,  and  one  Spirit,  even  as  ye  are  called  in  one 
hope  of  your  calling;  one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism,  one  God 
and  Father  of  all  who  is  above  all,  and  through  all,  and  in  you 
all. 

‘‘Till  we  all  come  in  the  unity  of  the  faith,  and  of  the  knowledge 
of  the  Son  of  God,  unto  a  perfect  man,  unto  the  measure  of  the 
stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ.” 


\  ' 


Christianity  and  Industry  Series 


Each,  32  pages.  Ten  cents  net. 

GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY,  PUBLISHERS 
244  MADISON  AVENUE  NEW  YORK 

No.  1— INDUSTRIAL  FACTS,  by  Kirby  Page. 

Concrete  data  concerning  such  industrial  problems  as  con¬ 
centration  of  wealth  and  control,  poverty,  low  wages,  unem¬ 
ployment,  long  hours. 

Brief  descriptions  of  such  proposed  solutions  as  welfare 
work,  employees’  representation,  open  shop  campaign,  trade 
unions,  the  cooperative  movement,  labor  party,  socialism,  syn¬ 
dicalism,  national  guild  movement. 

Statement  of  Christian  principles  that  have  a  bearing  upon 
these  problems. 

10,000  copies  sold  within  three  months. 

No.  2— COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING,  by  Kirby  Page. 

An  ethical  evaluation  of  some  phases  of  trade  unionism 
and  the  open  shop  movement. 

No.  3 — FELLOWSHIP,  by  Basil  Mathews  and  Hapry 
Bisseker. 

Preface  by  Sherwood  Eddy. 

A  consideration  of  fellowship  as  a  means  of  building  the 
Christian  social  order.  This  pamphlet  emphasizes  the  im¬ 
portance  of  group  discussion  in  seeking  light  upon  industrial 
problems  and  the  need  for  closer  cooperation  between  those 
of  like  purpose. 


Persons  desiring  quantities  of  these  pamphlets  for  use  in 
classes,  discussion  groups  or  open  forums,  or  for  distribution 
among  their  friends,  may  secure  them  at  the  rate  of  70  cents 
for  ten  copies,  or  $6.00  per  hundred,  postpaid,  from  Kirby  Page, 
311  Division  Avenue,  Hasbrouck  Heights,  New  Jersey. 


